Mottainai (Wasteful)
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When I bought hair accessaries at a department store in Yokohama, a shop keeper wrapped them in a small plastic bag and then put that plastic bag in a small paper bag. She had done very rapidly while I was taking out my wallet to pay in cash, so I didn't have any chance to say,"No need wrapping." After I got out of the shop, I felt a little bit bad, because I knew it was excessive wrapping and couldn't say anything. Since that time, I've put my own plastic bag in my regular bag and started to say, "No need wrapping."
There was a Mottainai campaign in 2005 in Japan. When a Kenyan woman, Wangari Maathai came to Japan, she was moved to know a Japanese word, "Mottainai" which means wasteful. She suggested that "Mottainai" can represent 3R which are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, so she started to use it as a global word in order to protect the environment in the world.
It's obvious if we cut down on excessive wrapping, we will be able to reduce the amount of trash. If a number of people in the world start to recognize "Mottainai", we can preserve and protect our environment more than ever. I think it's a shame if we can't make use of this beautiful Japanese word, Mottainai.
There was a Mottainai campaign in 2005 in Japan. When a Kenyan woman, Wangari Maathai came to Japan, she was moved to know a Japanese word, "Mottainai" which means wasteful. She suggested that "Mottainai" can represent 3R which are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, so she started to use it as a global word in order to protect the environment in the world.
It's obvious if we cut down on excessive wrapping, we will be able to reduce the amount of trash. If a number of people in the world start to recognize "Mottainai", we can preserve and protect our environment more than ever. I think it's a shame if we can't make use of this beautiful Japanese word, Mottainai.
She had done this/that very rapidly while I was taking out my wallet to pay in cash, so I didn't have any chance to say,"No need for wrapping." After I got out of the shop, I felt a little bit bad, because I knew it was excessive wrapping and couldn't say anything.
Since that time, I've put my own plastic bag in my regular bag and started to say, "No need for wrapping."
It would be good if more people in the world stopped being wasteful.
Many supermarkets in Japan encourage people to bring their reusable bags, on the other hand, department stores emphasize the value of extravagant.
She suggested that "Mottainai" can represent 3R which are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, so she started to use it as a global word in order to protect the environment of the world.
It's obvious that if we cut down on excessive wrapping, we will be able to reduce the amount of rubbish.
If a number of people in the world start to recognize "Mottainai", we can preserve and protect our environment more than ever. ("more than ever" sounds like we are doing a really good job at the moment...)
Pretty good, May corrected it well. I have just added some small alternatives.
Thank you very much for your help. It's amazing that my lang8 friends
have corrected my mistakes very rapidly.
Do you bring your reusable bags when you go shopping??
Although I sometimes need those plastic bags so I don't need to buy "bin liner" bags.
When a Kenyan woman, Wangari Maathai, came to Japan, she was moved to know a Japanese word, "Mottainai," which means wasteful.
Recently, most of supermarkets ask customers if they need a plastic bag or not. It's good.
Well, you speak American English, right? If you do, I think you should put commas inside of quatation marks.
My preference is to avoid commas as much as possible. It seems to make English sounds child-like to use so many.
"Mottainai" above is a special word by Maathai, so comma must be needed.
I'm not 100% sure, though.
http://lang-8.com/125710/journals/1238355/I-know-it-doesn%2527t-matter%252C-but-which-do-you-prefer-or-more-common-to-say%253F
When I bought hair accessories at a department store in Yokohama, a shop keeper wrapped them in a small plastic bag and then put that plastic bag in a small paper bag.
She had done it quickly while I was taking out my wallet to pay in cash, so I didn't have any chance to say,"No need to wrap it." After I got out of the shop, I felt a little bit bad, because I knew it was excessive wrapping and couldn't say anything.
Since that time, I've put my own plastic bag in my regular bag and started to say, "No need to wrap it."
In 2005, there was a Mottainai campaign in Japan. (Just a suggestion so you aren't saying "in" twice so close to each other, it sounds repetitive when you say it.)
When a Kenyan woman, Wangari Maathai, came to Japan, she was moved by the Japanese word, "Mottainai," which means wasteful.
She suggested that "Mottainai" can represent the 3Rs, which are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, so she started to use it as a global word in order to protect the environment in the world.
If people would start to recognize "Mottainai," we can preserve and protect our environment better than ever. (I think when you use "better" instead of "more" it has more of a feeling that we can do better than we are now, which is an understatement if you ask me...)
My mother taught me to reuse bags like this. We use paper bags as trash can liners a lot of the time. Paper bags are easy to recycle or reuse, so I like them more than plastic ones.
Wow, I do the same. I have a big bag full of plastic bags and paper bags.
Sometimes I donate those bags to a city library.
I always make an effort to reuse the plastic bags. Some of the storekeepers have taken notice. Could it be because few others here do so? There was a drive to have people use canvas bags but I don't see so many of them.
@bennatan, I'm happy to talk about this issue with many friends.
I gotta go to study calligraphy!
Your word "mottainai" [the word itself; not its meaning] is good for environmental slogans.
You use "mottainai" [the word itself; not its meaning] for environmental slogans.
If we on Lang-8 had italics, I'd have italicized "moutainai" so I could skip the quote marks.
It's obvious if we cut down on excessive wrapping, we would be able to reduce the amount of trash.
I think it would be a shame if we couldn't make make use of this beautiful Japanese word, Mottainai.
OR
"I think it would be a shame if we didn't make use of this beautiful Japanese word, Mottainai."
Subjunctives use past participle:
"If I were a bird, I would fly all day long."
Comma placement is also correct inside or outside the quotations despite Beetroot Dog's objections.
コンマの説明も明確になりました。